After a two-week break the 14-tournament season resumes at the 2021 edition of the CKB WA PGA Championship presented by TX Civil & Logistics at Kalgoorlie Golf Course with $200,000 in prize money up for grabs starting Thursday.

Eight of the top 10 on the Order of Merit are in the field and with the WA Open and NT PGA Championship to come in the fortnight that follows, the stakes have never been higher.

A spot in the US Open at The Country Club in Brookline in June, three DP World Tour cards and five spots at the Korn Ferry Tour Final Qualifying School will be distributed at season’s end and with three events left all remain undecided.

Fortinet Australian PGA champion Jed Morgan maintains a comfortable buffer at the top of the moneylist but in-form Blake Windred remains a mathematical chance of knocking him off.

Winner of the opening event of the season – the Victorian PGA Championship at Moonah Links – Windred finished second at both the Golf Challenge NSW Open and The National PGA Classic in consecutive starts to move into second on the Order of Merit.

He is close to $64,000 shy of Morgan so would possibly need to win all three tournaments to edge ahead but can secure one of the three cards in Europe with a couple of strong finishes, starting in Kalgoorlie where he was tied for eighth in his only previous appearance in 2019.

Although Morgan and Windred have separated themselves from the field to an extent, the third and final DP World Tour card is a race that remains wide open.

More than $14,000 back of Windred, Andrew Dodt currently sits in third spot on the Order of Merit but there is just $25,000 separating him from Brad Kennedy in eighth spot.

Kennedy and Anthony Quayle (fifth) are both absent this week due to their commitments on the Japan Golf Tour, opening the door for the likes of Dimitrios Papadatos, Louis Dobbelaar and Aaron Pike to make their move.

Winner of the Vic Open for a second time in February and the champion at Kalgoorlie in 2017, Papadatos trails Dodt by less than $6,000 and has a $13,000 buffer to Dobbelaar in sixth position

The inaugural TPS Hunter Valley champion, Pike is just $1,592.27 behind Dobbelaar and trails fifth-placed Quayle by $7,591.50.

Defending WA PGA champion Jarryd Felton can also make a late play for a top-five finish on the Order of Merit, rising to ninth on the back of his win at TPS Sydney and tie for third at the NSW Open.

ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit (through The National PGA Classic)
1. Jediah Morgan            $188,403.77
2. Blake Windred            $124,573.33
3. Andrew Dodt               $110,050.70
4. Dimitrios Papadatos  $104,198.50
5. Anthony Quayle          $97,217.33
6. Louis Dobbelaar         $91,218.10
7. Aaron Pike                   $89,625.83
8. Brad Kennedy              $85,985
9. Jarryd Felton               $75,840
10. Jordan Zunic              $73,460.77

Click here for the complete ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.